Method for sharpening razors



April 20, 1954 A. H. RIEDLER METHOD FOR SHARPENING RAZORS Filed April 20. 1955 atented Apr. 20, 1954 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE r METHOD FOR SHARPENING RAZORS Alvin H. Riedler, Minneapolis, Minn.

Application April 20, 1953, Serial No. 349,857

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a method for sharpening razors.

For many years, barbers and others who shave with a straight razor have been required to spend considerable time in sharpening their razor and most procedures which are presently in use require that the razor be stropped after completion of the usual honing operation. Obviously, the additional stropping operation increases the time spent in producing the desired edge on the razor.

It is, therefore, an object of my invention to provide a novel and highly efiicient procedure for honing a razor which will completely eliminate the requirement of the additional stropping operation and thus materially reduce the time required to produce the desired sharpened edge.

More specifically, it is an object to provide a method for sharpening razors consisting in only three steps, the first being six substantially straight sharpening strokes longitudinally of the hone in a direction against the edge of the razor with each side of the razor disposed against the surface of the hone; the second step being to use three wide, circular strokes with each side of the razor flat against the hone surface; and the third and final step consisting in a zigzag sharpening movement from heel to toe and toe to heel of the razor away from the razor edge, a very light contact being maintained between the razor and the honed surface during all of said steps.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a hone showing a razor in the initial sharpening position at the beginning of one stroke by full lines and at the beginning of the return stroke by dotted lines, the arrows showing the direction of movement of the razor in each position;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line of 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the wide generally circular arcuate strokes for the intermediate sharpening step; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the zigzag movement of the center line of the razor during the final sharpening step.

It should be kept in mind that only a very light contact pressure is maintained between the razor and the hone during all steps of the sharpening operation.

The first step consists in moving the razor with a substantially straight stroke longitudinally across the face of the hone in a direction against the edge of the razor, as shown by the arrows in Figs. 1 and 2. I have found that six such straight strokes on each side of the razor produce the best results and a slightly heavier sharpening pressure is used during the first two strokes in each direction than in the last four.

The next step in my procedure consists in three arcuate strokes on each side of the razor in a direction against the edge thereof. A wide, generally circular stroke is used in this step of the sharpening operation and only a very light pressure is maintained between the razor and the hone surface. The position of the razor during the sharpening operations herein disclosed is set forth and illustrated in the drawings and is best shown in Figs. 2 and 3 thereof.

The final step in the sharpening operation, again with the razor disposed substantially flat against the surface of the hone, consists in four or five up and down strokes from heel to toe of the razor while moving the edge slowly across the surface of the hone as indicated by the zigzag lines shown in Fig. 3 which represent the path followed by the intersection of the two center lines of the razor. This last operation requires the lightest possible pressure and produces the final cutting edge which is ready for use and which does not require any stropping whatever.

It should be noted that I have experimented for many years with different procedures in order to eliminate the use of a strop in sharpening razors and I have found that the three steps set forth herein produce an extremely sharp and long-lasting edge which will permit at least four or five shaves to be performed without additional sharpening of my razor. The elimination of the razor strop in the sharpening operation, of course, permits a barber to perform shaves outside of his shop without requiring him to carry a strop and then find some place to anchor the same. Obviously, this facilitates such a shaving operation. a

It will be seen that I have provided a relatively simple, yet highly eificient method for honing razors which positively eliminates the use of a razor strop and which produces an edge capable of repeated use without further attention. The number of sharpening strokes in each of the steps has proved to be critical and variation from this number will not produce the results obtained by following the procedure set forth in precise detail.

What I claim is:

l. The method of honing a razor consisting in only the following steps, initially moving the razor longitudinally across the surface of a hone in a direction against the edge of the razor six times on each side of the edge, thereafter moving the razor with a generally circular arcuate stroke three times across the surface of the hone on each side of the razor, and finally moving the razor back and forth from heel to toe and. toe to heel with a zigzag movement across the surface of the hone at least four, and not more than five, times on each side thereof, and maintaining only a very light contact pressure between the hone and the sides of the razor.

2. The method set forth in claim 1, and the two initial strokes in the first step having slightly greater pressure than any of the strokes thereafter.

No references cited. 

